"Bow down to the GOD of games..."

The mid '90s more or less saw the debut of the polygon in the gaming world, and after the (let's be honest) 'abomination' that was Virtua Racing, Sega released a little gem in the arcades called Daytona USA. Naturally, this (being popular and all) was quickly translated across to their new Saturn console and released in '95.
Now, some people may argue otherwise, but in all honesty Saturn Daytona USA was not the game it could and should have been. This is. Lots.
So, Saturn Sega Rally then. Possibly one of the only console conversions to actually be better than the arcade version in nearly every respect (except graphically - obviously), and sure could show some of these new racers a thing or 2. ''But hang on'', I hear you cry, ''it's only got 4 tracks and 3 cars: - Gran Turismo has loads of tracks and hundreds of cars!'' Maybe so, but Sega Rally has a vital ingredient that many of the modern racers lack - excitement! Oh yes, and THAT handling...
If only one racing was allowed to exist, as far as game-play is concerned, this would be it. It's difficult to find the right term to describe how this game plays - only one word that springs to mind - beauty. And nothing can beat the overwhelming sense of achievement when you finally beat your best time by 0.01 of a second after thousands of attempts (my whole arcade top 16 is separated by only 2 seconds!).
Oh, and the music's quite good too!
You can tell that a game is a classic when you still play it regularly over 5 years after the initial release, as I'm sure many of you who are honored enough to own it have found out. And if you don't own it, now is the perfect time as you can pick up a second-hand Saturn and a copy of Sega Rally Championship for less than any new Playstation racer.

Graphics - Not spectacular but they do their job. Not a hint of slowdown, but the 2-player looks a bit on the rough side...

Sound - Pretty bog-standard engine noises, tyre squeals and navigator babbling. Decent music though...

Game-play - God-like. You need to know no-more...

Life-span - Pretty easy to complete, but that's not the point is it?

To sum up - This is, quite simply, a masterpiece: - no other game comes close to this in game-play terms, not even it's vastly overrated sequel.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/01, Updated 10/18/01